Job 3:25

For the very thing I dreaded ¹  has happened ²  to me, and what I feared has come upon me. ³ 

What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

"For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me.

What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be.

The worst of my fears has come true, what I've dreaded most has happened.

For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled.

Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.

For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.

For the very thing I dreaded ¹  has happened ²  to me, and what I feared has come upon me. ³ 

¹ tn The construction uses the cognate accusative with the verb: “the fear I feared,” or “the dread thing I dreaded” (פַחַד פָּחַדְתִּי, pakhad pakhadti). The verb פָּחַד (pakhad) has the sense of “dread” and the noun the meaning “thing dreaded.” The structure of the sentence with the perfect verb followed by the preterite indicates that the first action preceded the second – he feared something but then it happened. Some commentaries suggest reading this as a conditional clause followed by the present tense translation: “If I fear a thing it happens to me” (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 24). The reason for this change is that it is hard for some to think that in his prime Job had such fears. He did have a pure trust and confidence in the Lord (16:19, 29:18ff). But on the other hand, he did make sacrifices for his sons because he thought they might sin. There is evidence to suggest that he was aware that calamity could strike, and this is not necessarily incompatible with trust.

² tn The verb אָתָה (’atah) is Aramaic and is equivalent to the Hebrew verb בּוֹא (bo’, “come, happen”).

³ tn The final verb is יָבֹא (yavo’, “has come”). It appears to be an imperfect, but since it is parallel to the preterite of the first colon it should be given that nuance here. Of course, if the other view of the verse is taken, then this would simply be translated as “comes,” and the preceding preterite also given an English present tense translation.